I spent the first half of my life trying to be an athlete so I could become the second woman after Mary Lou Retton to appear on the front of a Wheaties box. I failed at that, and softball, basketball, volleyball, track, ice skating and cheerleading in the process. Looking back, the only thing amazing about my persistent pursuit of sporting glory was my lack of self-awareness. I only ever made a team after my second time trying out, when I showed up the next year with my much more athletic younger sister. (True story: she played as my proxy on Forbes' softball team one season.) After my closest attempt at sporting success came in a spelling bee (thank you ESPN for televising and giving that sport cred), I finally decided to take the advice of all those coaches who told me I had the brains and benchwarmer's big mouth better suited for sideline competition. Now after studying business at Drexel University and journalism at NYU, I compete for bylines, primarily writing about the business of sports. As for my sporting endeavor, I decided to focus on the one where I only compete with myself: running. I can be seen crossing the finish line of my front door celebrating my first place victory a few mornings a week...then eating a bowl of Wheaties, because "that's what big girls eat."

1/11/2013 @ 11:35AM11,811 views

Caroline Pla, 11-Year Old Football Player, Discriminated Against By The Catholic Church

In September 2012, two games into the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Catholic Youth Organization’s football season, coach Chip Ross of Romans in Doylestown, PA, got an unexpected and unpleasant call about one of his players. Jason Budd, the Deputy Secretary in the Archdiocese’s Office of Education who oversees the CYO program, told him that 11-year old, sixth grader Caroline Pla, a Junior Varsity player, was not allowed on the team and had to be removed from the roster immediately. Citing the CYO handbook, Budd said football is a full-contact sport designated for boys. The Archdiocese claimed, without sourcing, that this was a necessary safety measure.

Up until that point, no one in the Romans Football organization was aware this rule existed. “It never crossed our minds,” said Jim Reichwein, Pla’s former JV football coach, her current basketball coach and father of her best friend. He said he had a handbook and he recalls most of the language used male pronouns but that he never read anything explicitly stating ‘no girls allowed’. “And at no point did anyone say ‘no way’ when she signed up and first showed up,” he added.

Maybe that was because no one that knew Pla or her family had ever thought anything unusual of her playing. She fell in love with the sport as a 3-year old who used to tag along to her older brother’s Pop Warner games and recalls telling his coach that one day she would play too. True to her word, when Pla turned 5-years old she asked, and her parents enrolled her in that youth organization’s flag football program. She spent four more seasons progressing through divisions there. She even played with one or two other girls along the way, in the organization that allows co-ed play all the way up to its 11-12-13-14-year old, 105-pound division.

“Girls make up 1-2% of our total football playing population across all age groups in any given year,” said Josh Pruce, Pop Warner’s National Director of Media Relations. “We welcome girls who want to play football.”

Pla’s parents, Seal and George, recall only wondering about their daughter’s safety once, before she moved into the 70-pound weight tackle division as a second grader. So her father decided to coach the team to make sure she would be alright. After his first time seeing her play with the other kids, George confidently reported back to Seal that Caroline had no problem holding her own.

In 2011 when Pla entered fifth grade at her local public school, she joined her church’s CYO team. Reflecting on her entire seven seasons playing the sport, most recently as a defensive end and offensive guard, she recalls no major incidents or injuries.

“Just the normal bumps and bruises,” said the 5-feet, 3-inches tall girl, one of the tallest on her team, in response to being asked about ever getting hurt. “I did put a hit on a boy when I was 7- or 8-years old that resulted in him getting a concussion though.”

Of course there were boys on opposing teams along the way who would taunt her for being a girl, or her teammates for playing with a girl. But the girl poised beyond her 11 young years dealt with it with a level head and explained that revenge was best taken out on the field in the next play. That and her supportive teammates usually handled things and smack talked back for her.

It was baffling then to the Plas why all of a sudden Caroline playing became an issue in CYO. After all, it was her second season on the team. Both years she followed the proper protocol to join. She was a registered and active member of one of the five Catholic churches that made up the Romans Football team, filled out the necessary form with all her vital information including her gender, got her parents’ permission who signed off on both a concussion and sudden cardiac arrest waiver, paid a registration fee, and had her paperwork appropriately filed with the CYO office.

She never hid her gender from anyone, she never sought attention for being a girl on the team, and no one ever had any problem with her. Rather, no one on her team, in charge of her team, in charge of CYO, or in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had any problem with her until that point. But the perception the Romans Football organization got from the phone call from the Archdiocese was that one of their recent opponents did and they successfully forced the issue to have Pla removed.

After Seal and George Pla were told the bad news, they immediately set out to challenge the decision. George and Coach Ross corresponded back and forth for a week with Budd. Included in their arguments was a letter of support for Caroline from Monsignor Joseph Gentili, the pastor in charge of their church, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also included was a copy of a letter Caroline had written to the program at the end of the previous season, expressing her joy for playing and thanking the organization.

“We pleaded, are you really now going to kick off this 11-year old with this kind of support and character who has been playing for over a year and working hard?” said Seal Pla. “We tried to appeal to common sense and asked Budd to consider the kind of message the Archdiocese was sending with this ban.”

Budd and the Archdiocese conceded and agreed to let Pla finish the season, but said no more CYO football for her after that.

Pla’s parents and coaches decided to wait to tell Caroline and her teammates about the situation until the end of the season, to spare her feelings. They all agreed there was no need to make an 11-year old feel unwanted because of what they felt was the poor judgment of a few who had never seen her play, especially when they had seen performance from her that displayed the exact opposite about her worthiness on the team.

Seal finally broke the news to Caroline after a second-round playoff loss. Both mother and daughter recall her initial reaction was the same.

“What about Gracie?” She being the 4th grader who had started following Caroline around at practices, talking to her about how she was going to play just like her. Gracie wanted to play next season when she was in 5th grade. If Caroline couldn’t, that meant Gracie couldn’t either.

“She’s a good sized girl and she wants to play,” said the young Pla. “It’s not fair if she doesn’t get her chance just because she’s a girl.”

For the team’s final game of the season, a consolation playoff game the Romans won to capture third place in their CYO region, Pla was named sole captain. In a show of support and to her surprise, at the start of the game as she stood in the center of the field with the opposing team captain, her teammates ceremoniously locked hands and stood behind her.

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If player, player’s family, and coach are all fine with it, there’s no legitimate reason she shouldn’t be able to play. Excellent citations of legalities that support her playing, as well. Regarding safety, I love her comment about considering banning it for boys, too. However, the only safety additional safety awareness that should not be missed is the fact that girls, on average, go through puberty in the 10-11 age range, whereas onset is 11-12 for boys (per Wikipedia – so not sure how scientifically accurate that is – but in general it is earlier for girls, as you’ve pointed out). She has, therefore, likely benefitted from this difference until now. Next season, most of the boys she has been playing against will become completely different beings with significantly more speed and strength. Not trying to rain on her parade, as she may still be able to out-perform most of them, but it is something her parents should objectively monitor (as I’m sure they will).

Fair enough point about the age range for the onset of puberty. The key there though is that it’s not black and white for every kid. To deal with it, some combo of age and weight could be used to divide teams, rather than just age or grade. But you just don’t ban based on gender. Because I agree with your opening. Ultimately the parents, player and coach can best decide.

When I started out writing this, it was solely from a safety comparison and my intent was to ask should she play? Should boys play? Then I learned about the legal analysis showing how this is a Title IX issue and so focused on that. But in my initial research on the safety matter, I came across several studies that show how dangerous other sports are for girls (and boys). Cheerleading was one of the top ones, which is interesting because Caroline’s twin sister is a cheerleader. The American Academy of Peds is very harsh about it and has recommended several limitations because of the injuries. No surprise there were no football stats available for girls. So no comparison can be made there. But there are medical and other scientific experts that have recently argued that no child before puberty should participate in contact sports. It could be a story for later.

why do you call a rule a discrimination? Men and women are obviously physically different..and cannot compete equally in all sports..that’s the true story…unless women do want to compete in all other sports and no picking a sport where they think they can win..Let them compete equally in racing, bicycle, weight lifting, soccer, marathon and others where they will never be able to win. Just compare the score results between man and women in the category the play separately. Just let the women play Football and see how many will end up in a hospital.

I call a rule a discrimination when 40 years ago a legal battle called Title IX said it was. Please re-read the story and understand how the Archdiocese, by receipt of federal funding through their participation in the school lunch program, is required to abide by the law. Your opinion about what you think is discrimination is not relevant here because of that law and the Archdiocese actions to this point in association with it. Your opinion about physical differences between boys and girl in competition is irrelevant also. Where is your evidence? Perhaps you didn’t see the picture of Caroline tackling the QB on the opposing team? Or perhaps you didn’t read the part where I explained how in 7 years playing co-ed football she never got hurt, but did put a hit on a boy who ended up with a concussion? Or perhaps you didn’t read the scientific data included that states “Until the onset of puberty, girls grow faster and have more coordination than boys. Pre-puberty, girls and boys do not differ significantly in physiological parameters such as height, weight, fat-free mass, girth, bone width, and skinfold thickness.”? If you have expert data to the contrary of anything above, please supply it. While you’re at it, you should really back up that last sentence and show me how fewer boys/men end up in the hospital from playing football. I’m sure the NFL players suing the league have some data for you.

I was not referring to kids so read again my answer: I was talking about men and women that your writing through a sneaky attack against the church was all about. You do not need a PhD to understand that men and women are physically different… either you like it or not or agreed to it : that’s a fact and therefore to try to make them equal in all sports is purely a ridiculous though. The rest is history.

“Caroline Pla, 11-Year Old Football Player, Discriminated Against By The Catholic Church” Is there any less sensationalistic headline to describe this? How about “CYO Athletic Director Rules 11-Year Old Girl Ineligible To Play Boy’s Football”? By saying the Catholic Church is responsible treats it like a matter of faith and morals. Tell the story, but please act something like a responsible adult.